Frozen in time
by Maria86
Summary: One team member held at gunpoint, another seriously wounded, and twelve FBI agents holding their breath, unable to make a move. How and when did the situation get out-of-control? Case fic with hints of H/P. I do not own Criminal Minds or the characters!
1. Chapter 1

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories!**

**Chapter 1: Stand-off**

Reid felt a shiver run through his spine when the barrel of the gun dug further into the back of his neck. Most people would have just closed their eyes and waited for it to finish, but Spencer Reid was not most people. He was a control freak, so his first reflex was to keep his eyes wide open and look around, assessing his surroundings to locate any device that could be used to fight back his assaulter. In the corner of his eye, the young agent could see the tip of Derek's nose, as he was hiding behind the desk, his gun already at hand. The man must have noticed too the dark agent's gun because he pressed his own weapon further into Reid's flesh and hissed: "I wouldn't do that, Derek, if I were you."

Xxx

_Flash-back_

_Emily Prentiss was kneeing in one corner of the dead-end, just behind a large grey bin. One elbow resting on her knee while the other arm was stretched forward, as though the light dance of her fingers in the air could help her analyze her surroundings better. She was talking to herself quietly, accompanying each observation with a similar gesture of the hand, until Derek Morgan came to stand behind her. Feeling his presence, the brunette stood and took a step back._

"_Did you find something?" He asked, his eyes set on the dried blood that had taken the shape of an oblong circle._

"_The crime scene is pretty neat. They took the body away a few minutes ago, but I arrived just in time to see the original disposition. She was lying on her back, her feet in this," she added, turning around and pointing to the street, "direction. Which means the unsub somehow attracted her into this isolated place and cornered her so that she couldn't get away."_

_Derek nodded, observing the medical examiner who was just closing the body bag at the entrance of his official van._

"_No sign of fight?"_

"_Nothing on the scene." Her eyes lingered on the bare concrete ground. Apart from the nearby bin which was crammed with plastic bags, the dump site was extraordinarily clean. "No blood spatters on the wall, and no sign of defensive wounds on the body, as far as I could see."_

_Derek fished the cell phone out of his trouser pockets when he felt it vibrate against his thigh._

"_It's Hotch." He said, briefly looking at the caller ID before turning away. "Yeah, Hotch. We're at the dump site."_

_As her colleague walked a few steps away to avoid being overheard by the local officers buzzing around the scene, Emily's attention shifted back to the blood pool on the ground that had long dried. Aaron Hotchner had sent them both to the dump site while they began working victimology. He often did that, knowing that Emily had a special eye for details. She would notice anything out of place, and her empathy for the victims was so strong that crime scenes would instantly 'talk' to her, giving her clues about the last moments of the victim that none of her coworkers could even imagine. While Reid's and Rossi's intelligence were based on psychological factors, Emily's understanding of the cases were based much more on emotions and sensations._

"_Strauss is giving them a hell of a time… He didn't say it, but I felt he needs back up at the BAU." Derek's voice came from her back._

"_Oh, I can't wait." Emily smirked. Indeed, she was one of the rare agents at the BAU who could speak into Erin Strauss' face without flinching. There was no doubt as to why Aaron Hotchner wanted Emily at his side to confront the dragon._

"_There's something else, Morgan. The unsub folded both her arms over their chest and rearranged their hair." She continued, when it was clear that Derek would not respond to her sarcastic comment._

"_It's not only a ritual. He feels remorse for what he did." Derek commented, his eyes lost somewhere in the distance._

"_Even the killing itself is… almost gentle." Emily shrugged as the word escaped her mouth. She was not sure that she had chosen the right word, but the idea seemed to have reached Derek, who nodded in return._

"_One shot, right through the heart."_

"_The guy doesn't go off on making his victims suffer."_

_Both agents turned when the well-known noise of the journalistic troops came to their ears. Despite the early hour and the joined work of Jennifer Jareau and the local police to keep the new crime away from media attention, they had smelt the blood. Emily sighed, getting ready to fight off the intruders with her badge and gun if necessary._

_Xxx_

"_Thank God you're here…" JJ whispered as she walked towards Emily and Derek. In her back, the brunette could already see Erin Strauss stand in the middle of the bullpen, with three uneasy-looking agents. "We definitely need another pair of hands to keep her from going through the roof…" She added sarcastically, escorting her colleagues through the bullpen._

"_Good morning, Madam." Emily said politely yet with distance as she leaned against her desk, acknowledging Hotch's discreet look. He hoped that the two agents had not come back empty-handed, or he would spend the rest of his career filling in paperwork behind some obscure desk._

"_Agent Prentiss, Agent Morgan. I hope you have distinctive evidence for us, or the director will have us for his breakfast." The blonde said, crossing her arms defensively in front of her chest._

"_Well, what we can say for sure is that it was the same unsub…" Derek began, almost awaiting the Section Chief to take out her shoe and stab him with the high heel._

"_Okay, let's discuss this in a more private place." Hotch offered, nodding towards the empty conference room. The case was hitting hard enough on the Bureau and they didn't need all agents to overhear their theories about the unsub who already murdered three times without leaving a single evidence._

"_So" he announced once David Rossi had ended the cortege and closed the door behind him. "What do we have? Prentiss?"_

_Emily, who had been awaiting his signal, took a step forward and began reciting what they had gathered at the dump site._

"_The victim has been shot once, through the heart, just like the others. Same MO, the unsub apparently attracted his victim into this isolated street. We will know more after the autopsy, but the ME could already say that it happened some time between ten and twelve last night."_

"_Why the delay in discovering the body?" Reid asked, already thinking of the geographical profile. The third victim had been killed in a busy area of Washington DC, packed with bars and gourmet restaurants. Certainly not the place where a gunshot would be common._

"_There were no witnesses. He probably used a silencer, like with the previous victims. It was the garbage men who found the body this morning, around five." Derek answered, following Reid's theory till the end._

"_The body had been disposed exactly like the others. Arms folded, hair and clothes rearranged…" Emily's voice trailed off as she noticed the look of anger and impatience on Strauss' face. "And no weapon on the scene."_

"_Okay." The Section chief finally interrupted. "So we have three agents killed off the job in less than a month, and absolutely no evidence. No crime weapon, no DNA, no witness… What is your next move?"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories!**

**Chapter 2: Killed in the line of duty**

Derek Morgan rarely felt too big. On the job, he was usually glad for his broad shoulders and muscular strength. He did not scare away from unsubs and could take down a suspect with a single blow. But as he was trying to crouch behind the tiny desk, his height suddenly seemed like a downside. From his discreet corner, he peered across the bullpen, acknowledging the mix of limbs covering the floor. All agents who had been in the BAU's quarters were now lying still and flat on their stomachs, not daring to raise their head or even move their hands.

"Now everyone drop your weapons and slide them in our direction." The man said, eyeing the moving silhouette behind the desk although his comment was directed at the round.

After a minute of silence, the few persons who still had their gun holstered raised it in the air and kicked it in the man's direction, trying not to harm anyone in the process. Derek was one of the lasts to do so. He peered once more over the desk, trying to count the number of hostages. It was more frequent than not for a member of the BAU to work extra shifts, thus it was not a bit astonishing that the floor was still crowded at this late hour. They were probably twelve persons lying in the bullpen or behind their desks, not including the few agents who were standing on the upper level when it happened. Derek came back to reality when he heard his younger colleague whimper in pain. If the man dug the Glock any deeper into the doctor's neck, it would undoubtedly cut the skin open, Derek thought with a frown before sliding his own weapon across the floor, to the man's feet.

Xxx

"_What does the partner say?" Rossi leaned over the table, grabbing one of the pictures that had been tossed across the oblong table. JJ was currently picking some of them up to pin them to their brainstorming board, trying to avoid their Section Chief's penetrating look._

"_That Agent Donovan left the office around eight and didn't say anything about her plans." Reid answered. He had been the one to talk to Agent Gary Maylord over the phone, two hours before. The man had been inconsolable and had a hard time hiding the tears in his voice._

"_Does she have any family?" Emily asked, flipping through the personnel file of the woman._

"_She was divorced. No kids. No one waiting for her at home, if that's what you're driving at…" The doctor answered, looking over the files at his colleague._

"_So she leaves Quantico at eight, and is killed between ten and midnight. What did she do in the meantime?" Emily continued thinking aloud._

_Hotch, who had been standing at one end of the table in a symbolic opposition to Erin Strauss, came to stand right behind Emily._

"_Garcia is already running through her last financial transactions." He said, repressing a grin. He had promised Penelope he wouldn't tell no one how raw and ugly her voice sounded just after waking up. He had almost thought he had gotten the wrong number when the blonde analyst had answered on the fifth ring._

"_Apart from their respective job, the victims do not have very much in common." Reid noted, having already learnt by heart each of the three files that had been brought to him a couple of hours ago. "So Patricia Donovan was single with no kids. Her partner says she was a very active woman leading a hectic life. Often on the road for the job and out with friends and dates off duty. A subscription to the local gym, the public swimming pool and even a book club."_

"_How did she manage this?" JJ interrupted absently, as she thought of her total lack of social life outside the Bureau. Apart from their regular team nights and occasional meetings with her parents, the liaison agent barely managed to get a minimum of quality time with her companion and son._

_While Emily let out a sigh to show her friend just how much she agreed, the men in the room purposely ignored the little exchange to concentrate on the case._

"_Lindsay Christensen was a young mother." Reid continued, steeling a glance at JJ to see her reaction. "Eight months old daughter at home and a husband who is a banker. She had traded her field work against a desk job when she had learnt about her pregnancy, and had regular hours since."_

"_And Maria Lopez was a single mother with two grown-up kids." Hotch finished. They had all read and learnt the files and didn't need to go into much more detail. The last two days had already been filled with too much brainstorming and too few action, hence Erin Strauss' exasperated reaction._

_Derek Morgan stood up to reach the coffee corner. Some nice fairy had had the sweetness to fill the coffee pot prior to their arrival. He filled his cup and turned, leaning against the table to have an overview of the team._

"_So there is no point linking the personal lives of the three agents. What about work?"_

_Hotch turned a pensive look in his colleague's direction._

"_Agent Lopez was in Counterterrorism, Agent Christensen on an administrative duty at the Bureau and our latest victim worked for Narcotics Department. They couldn't possible have worked on a common case, but Garcia is checking anyway…"_

_As though reading his mind, the blonde technical analyst chose this precise moment to call on the unit chief's phone. Seeing the caller ID, he immediately picked up and put the phone on the table in front of him._

"_Garcia, you're on speaker." He called out with an imperturbable tone._

"_Boss-man, I have good news and bad news. What do you want first?"_

"_Good news, always good news, Garcia…" Hotch turned to the board so that the smile creeping up his face would go unnoticed by his superior._

"_Well, I was able to trace back the last financial activities on Agent Donovan's credit card. She paid for over thirty dollars at Joe's Bar, at the corner of 19__th__ and Engelwood…"_

"_That's only two streets from the dump site." Noted Reid, whose head had registered the entire map of Washington DC._

"_When was that?" Hotch asked after a pause._

"_Um… At 9.34, to be very precise, Boss-man." The light voice of Garcia responded._

"_So there is minimum half an hour between the moment she left the bar and the time of death. Any way to know whether she was in company?" Emily asked, tapping nervously with her pen on the table._

"_The partner said she just came out of a relation and wasn't seeing anyone." Reid said matter-of-factly. He was too sweet and innocent to imagine that a woman could actually just pick up some guy in a bar, even if she wasn't in a committed relationship._

"_We'll need to talk to the ex-boyfriend." Hotch muttered. The list of things to do was getting longer and longer. That was the problem, when victimology was all over the map: you had to cover a lot of ground. "We'll know for sure when the time of death is determined, but that would hint to the fact that she knew her killer. She spent time with him or her before he murdered her."_

"_That fits with the other victims." Garcia's voice echoed. "In all three cases, there's a blank space running from thirty minutes to two hours prior to death time. No credit card activity or movement noted by the GPS."_

"_And the bad news?" Reid suddenly seemed to snap back to reality and turned a questioning gaze to the cell phone, as though Penelope could see him through the device._

"_Oh, yeah. Well, I ran all cases they dealt with – official _and _confidential –" Strauss' eyes widened at the mention of the last word, and all agents turned away from her discreetly, fearing that she might snap if anyone shot her a nasty look, "and there is no single name that came across all the files. I'll be doing the same with their personal files in the next hour."_

_David Rossi, whose eyes were still burning holes into one of the crime scene pictures, repressed a sigh. So much for their great theory of the victims knowing their killer._


	3. Chapter 3

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories! Thanks a lot for your kind reviews and constructive criticism**

**Chapter 3: Backfire**

Emily didn't move for a long moment. The pain in her lower abdomen was so strong that she had stopped breathing all at once. She closed her eyes as a single tear rolled down her cheek, and concentrated all her energy on staying awake. She couldn't hear anything except the pounding in her head and her accelerated heartbeat. And Hotch's voice in the background. When she looked up to him and saw the panic on his face, reality came flooding back to her. The man. The gun. The shot. The excruciating pain in her abdomen. Her hands were shaking too much to be used, so she had to put all her weight on her legs to push herself behind the photocopier. Her eyes were set on the ceiling as she tried to keep her nerves under control. She would likely have cried out in pain or emptied her Glock in the ceiling above her, but she couldn't afford to attract the man's attention. After what seemed an hour, the brunette pulled herself out of her daydreaming, as she heard the repeated whispers of Aaron Hotchner, a few feet from her. He was kneeing in the doorframe to his office, in an angle where he could observe Emily while staying out of the unsub's sight. She had to concentrate another minute to finally get the meaning of his words. He was talking about blood, pressure, calm… Lowering her eyes, Emily noticed the blood slowly seeping through her white shirt. She had been shot. And given the situation, she would probably bleed to death if she didn't put something on the wound soon. Her whole right side was numb, so it took her a long time to take her jacket off with one arm. When she was done arranging the fabric into a tight ball, she took a deep breath before pressing it to the wound. Tears rolled forcefully down her cheeks until the pain slowly became bearable. She glanced sideways. Hotch would have a plan. He always had a plan. But all Emily saw in his eyes at the moment was complete helplessness. One of his agents was wounded; another held at gunpoint – the day couldn't have gone any worse.

Xxx

_David Rossi waltzed into the conference room, quite reluctantly. He had hoped for a second that Erin Strauss would have left the premises by the time of his return, but the blonde silhouette was still pacing back and forth across the room, like a dog waiting for some piece of meat. She had to feed the almighty directors of the Bureau with some evidence. As much as he dislike Section Chief Strauss, Rossi couldn't help feeling pity for the woman in such a difficult position._

"_I just talked to the ME." He announced, throwing the file he had just been faxed onto the conference room._

"_And?"_

"_He extracted the bullet and sent it to the federal lab. We'll know more in a couple of hours, but I would guess that they will match the bullet with Agent Donovan's service Glock." He continued, looking over at the board, where a large picture of the two bullets were pinned next to an overview of the crime scene._

"_He also found out that our victim had over 2 grams alcohol running in her blood, but nothing in her stomach."_

_Emily was stirring her coffee absently. It was already her third cup of the day and she still felt like her mind was fogged. As Hotch approached her, the brunette handed him his own cup, which she had prepared without even asking. The deep frown on his face told her that he could need the shot of energy as well._

"_So she went to that bar, had a lonely drinking round and went for a walk…" She mouthed everyone's silent thoughts. "At least that would explain how a trained FBI agent would be overpowered so easily."_

"_I'm still not convinced." Reid noted, raising an eyebrow._

"_What's on your mind, Reid?" Hotch said before sipping his coffee._

"_Emily, would you let someone take your gun from you so easily even with a few drinks down?"_

_When the brunette's eyes widened, Reid nodded in her direction to make his point. He knew that an FBI agent was always on his guard, even drunk or wounded._

"_Don't ever try it, Spencer Reid…" She said with a threatening voice._

"_My point exactly. I would still vote for the acquaintance-theory."_

_Everyone fell silent, except for Strauss' heels that were echoing on the tiles as she paced around. This was getting on everyone's nerves. When the Section Chief's phone rang and she paled after looking at the caller ID, Derek repressed a chuckle. He had never seen anyone go so quickly from anger to terror. Under the amazed looks of her main unit, the blonde excused herself and stormed out of the room, probably to have a telephonic fight with her superiors about the lack of action in the case._

_JJ mouthed a 'Thank God' after the door had closed on Erin Strauss, and she turned to her coworkers, waiting for the brainstorming to go on._

"_Okay, where do we go from now?" Derek asked. He had difficulties erasing the questioning and worry from his voice._

"_I don't know yet, but we have to act quickly. If we don't come up with something today or tomorrow, I'm pretty sure Strauss is going to pull strings and take the case away from us." Hotch noted with a dark voice that showed no emotions at all. "There has to be a point in common to all those victims…"_

"_Well, as you said earlier, there is a huge ground to cover." Rossi answered, his eyes lost somewhere over the table._

"_We'll split in two then. Um… Morgan, Rossi and JJ, you go and help Garcia going through the personal files. Talk to the parents, the husbands, friends, colleagues… Anything you can find." Hotch looked respectively at the three before mentioned agents, before locking with Emily's gaze. "Prentiss, you, Reid and me will concentrate on the cases they worked in the past year. If no name came across all three stack of files, maybe they went through similar experiences."_

_Emily downed her coffee, simultaneously grabbing her cell phone to call the analyst. Penelope Garcia could get them the files they needed in less than fifteen minutes._


	4. Chapter 4

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories!**

**Chapter 4: Behind the curtain**

The high heels echoed through the endless corridor as JJ stalked to the bunker. When she stormed in, Penelope Garcia almost jumped from her seat in surprise.

"Wow, JJ! Don't you ever knock on doors? You almost gave me a heart attack!" She called out rather hysterically, putting a hand on her heart to make her point. But the smile on her face soon disappeared when she took in the panic-streaking face.

"What… What's going on?" She asked, trying to read behind the endless blue eyes of the liaison agent.

"Can you get access to security cameras?" JJ simply asked, after catching her breath. She had run down the labyrinthic corridors so quickly that she was out of breath. "Fourth floor."

"Where are my friends? Why are you here instead of in your office? What….?" The technical analyst began stuttering, not ready to tear her eyes away from JJ's worried gaze.

"Garcia!" The slim blonde repressed an urge to grab Penelope's shoulders and shake her back to reality.

"On it." In less than five seconds, she had turned back to her screen and aligned a series of videos showing Hotch's office, the bullpen and the corridor leading to the elevators.

"Oh my…" When she stopped typing and her shoulders began to visibly shake under the pressure, JJ swallowed her own worry and reached forward to squeeze her friend's shoulders.

"Calm down, Garcia. I… I need to make a phone call." With that, she stepped out of the bunker and let her body slid down the wall, not caring about the coldness of the ground or the curious glance an agent gave her as he passed by. Without thinking twice, she speed dialed David Rossi's number. Even though the worry was fogging her mind and making her forget the details of the past twenty minutes, JJ could distinctly remember how Rossi stepped outside to make a personal phone call. Maybe he still was downstairs, just outside the building. While the ringtone echoed through her brain, JJ closed her eyes and travelled back to the moment she had stepped into the elevator. Screams and gunshots had reached her ears but the doors were already closing. There was nothing she could have done, as much as she had jumped around the tiny cubicle until it had reached the first floor.

"David Rossi." It took a few moments for the answer to register with JJ's brain. She had not even been aware that she had held her breath that long.

"Rossi, we've got a problem. Where are you?"

Xxx

_Emily, Reid and Hotch were occupying three different corners of the room. The table was covered with an impressive number of files, crime scene photos and transcriptions of interviews. The brunette checked her watch for the third time in the last half an hour, getting Hotch's attention._

"_Do you have a date, Agent Prentiss?" He asked without even raising his eyes from the file he was currently scanning. Emily almost choked the coffee she was drinking at the question._

"_Excuse me?"_

"_It's the third time I notice you checking the time. Is something bothering you?"_

"_Apart from the fact that we only covered a ridiculous amount of these files in the last two hours?"_

_Reid chuckled to himself. Either he had found a funny detail in one of his files – which was very unlikely, given the number of murders, rapes and abductions that were listed there – or he considered the exchange between his coworker and unit chief quite interesting. He had always thought that those two were a good match: Emily had a big mouth and did rarely shy away, putting even Hotch to silence, which was quite a miracle._

_Just when Hotch was about to return a smart comment, the door was opened hastily and three persons marched into the room under the surprised looks of Aaron Hotchner, Emily Prentiss and Spencer Reid._

"_Agent Hotchner, I believe you know Agent Boyd," Erin Strauss said, pointing to a young woman, "and this is Agent Lawrence Wright."_

_Hotch nodded, automatically extending a hand as the two agents got closer to the table._

"_I understand that your team feels a little overwhelmed by the amount of files to work on. Agent Boyd and Agent Wright volunteered to give you a hand with those." The way Erin Strauss vaguely pointed to the bunch of paper covering the conference table showed just how much she disliked doing paperwork and research._

"_Well, I won't say anything to contradict. We could need the help." Hotch nodded once more, waiting for Strauss to leave the room and let them go back to their work. The two new agents stayed frozen in the middle of the room, not really knowing what to do or where to begin. Both looked quite young, in their early thirties at most, and a little scared by the dark look of Aaron Hotchner._

"_Have a seat, agents. I'll brief you on what we are looking for."_

_Xxx_

_David Rossi slumped down in the chair next to Penelope Garcia, to the latter's surprise. She hadn't even seen him come in._

"_What are you doing here, elegant man?" She said without turning away from her screens._

"_Actually Morgan and I just came back from talking to Agent Lopez' colleagues, up on the tenth floor." The man answered tiredly, already leaning over the analyst's shoulder to look at her screen. "I've come to see whether you reached anything."_

_Garcia glanced sideways, repressing a grimace._

"_You know I hate it when someone peers over my shoulder… Get some distance before I have to call Morgan for back-up." She hissed, although there was some hint of joke in the back of her voice._

_Rossi smirked a little sarcastically and leaned back in the comfortable chair, raising his hands to motion for Garcia to go ahead with her report._

"_Well, I ran the list of names you texted me earlier through the system, checked for criminal records and the usual stuff… Turns out cops really don't like getting close to bad boys. Apart from minor felonies like breaking the speed limit, the ex-boyfriends, fathers, brothers, neighbors or coworkers are all clean."_

_Rossi pursed his lips in disappointment and turned his head as he heard Derek Morgan walk through the door. He gently squeezed the analyst's shoulder to notify her presence and shrugged as he saw the elderly agent's expression._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_Oh, we're just stuck, that's all…" Rossi said with a frown, trying to read through the ten screens that Garcia had open at the same time._

"_And just like I said concerning the federal cases our three victims worked, their personal life shows absolutely no connection. No name has popped up more than once in my system, and the zone of activity of each victim is very different from the other. They went to different supermarkets, bars, dry cleaning services… Sorry guys." Garcia had delivered the information at an impressive rate, only raising an apologetic look to the two agents when she was done._

"_Thanks, Garcia."_

"_Oh, there's one thing though…" Just as Rossi was getting on his feet to leave, the blonde raised a hand. "There's something missing, rather."_

"_What, baby girl?"_


	5. Chapter 5

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories! thanks for your reviews, i know the case fic is going pretty slow but i figured it's more realistic if they don't find the answer right away! i hope you'll bear with me a little longer**

**Chapter 5: Hands tied**

Hotch closed his eyes and tried to let his hearing guide him through the events. He could hear the whimpers of fear let out occasionally by the different agents lying on the floor. The rustling of clothing when one of them would move from his spot. The harsh breathing of Spencer Reid, as he feared for his life and tried to convince his legs not to give up under him. But stronger than all other sounds, he could hear the soft cries of pain that came from across the staircase. Hotch had not moved from his spot – his knees would have given up anyway, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the brunette sitting behind the photocopier.

"Emily, put pressure on it. Put pressure on it." He had whispered this sentence over and over, until he was sure that the agent had heard him. She seemed in great pain, and even though she had managed to shrug off her jacket to use it as a compress, it wouldn't stop the bleeding very long.

Repressing a cry of anger, he shifted his gaze downstairs, to assess the situation. From his angle, he could hardly see the unsub, and the way he was clutching Spencer Reid to his chest would have made it impossible for Hotch to take a shot anyway. The dark-haired man lowered his gaze and tried to clear his mind. He couldn't go to Emily to help her in any way. The unsub had already demonstrated how good a shooter he was, and Hotch would be lying dead on the ground within five seconds if he tried to cross the unprotected upper corridor to his agent. But Hotch had one advantage: the unsub didn't seem to have noticed his presence yet. He could just crawl to his desk and try to notify the situation to the security staff. Hotch raised a shaking hand to Emily to let her know that he was coming back, but she didn't seem to really see him through her tears. Crawling on the floor to his desk because the blinds were wide open, Hotch cursed silently Section Chief Strauss, who had put the wolf into the sheepfold.

Xxx

"_They were undercover agents." Rossi announced proudly, walking into Hotch's office with Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia on his trail. The unit chief had left his agents work on the case files when his cell phone had called him back to the reality of his status. Making politics and reassuring the big heads of the Bureau. Hence he had closed the door of his office and dove head first into an uneasy conversation with his superior's superior._

_When the three agents waltzed into the office without even bothering to knock, Hotch sent them a deadly glare while trying to remain polite with his interlocutor. To keep them from distracting his attention any more, the unit chief raised his finger in a threatening way. _

"_Yes, I completely understand." He said with an automatic voice. "I can see your point. But I assure you that we are advancing on the profile. Yes, I know. I will see that with Agent Jareau. Thank you, sir."_

_When he had finally disposed of the phone, Hotch paused and closed his eyes. His whole body language – the hands on the hips, the frown on his face and the way he pursed his lips – seemed to beg for a moment of peace after this dreadful conversation. Aaron Hotchner really hated politics, he told himself, finally tearing his eyes off the black phone on his desk._

"_What did the big men want?" Derek asked with the most diplomatic tone he could take._

_Hotch resisted sending him a furious glare. After all, his team didn't need to suffer by the lack of understanding and humanity of the Direction._

"_They're not very happy with us working the case… I think his words were 'that we spend too much time talking' or something of the kind…" Hotch ended his quote with a sarcastic grin, that Rossi immediately picked up._

"_Would they rather have us walking around with all guns out and taking in every person who looks bad at FBI agents?" The elderly agent answered, shaking his head in disbelief._

"_Anyway, as much as I hate to say it, Chief Section Strauss is making a good job keeping the bosses away from us… for now." He paused, suddenly realizing that his agents had come to him for a reason. "So what did you want to say?"_

_Rossi cleared his throat and turned around, expecting that his team mates would follow him automatically to the conference room, where the rest of Hotch's unit was stationed. When the troops penetrated into the room, Emily raised a curious eye to determine the reason of this remarked entry. The two younger agents were so wrapped up in their files that they did not immediately react._

"_Oh, tell me you reached something with your interviews…" She almost begged, ignoring the soft chuckle of Derek Morgan. Her attention had already shifted to David Rossi, who had walked directly to the board._

"_We think all our victims were undercover agents." He picked up the conversation to where it had stopped a few minutes earlier._

"_Why is that?" Hotch's face was unreadable, as usual._

"_Garcia dug into their professional and personal history, old addresses, different jobs and so on… And it appears that there are weeks, months sometimes, where the history and activities of our victims ceased."_

_Rossi grabbed a pen and began noting dates under the victims' portraits, which his incredibly large brain had registered after the conversation with Penelope._

"_Each victim has been regularly disappearing from planet Earth, if I may put it that way… Three weeks here, two months there… As long as Garcia searched, she couldn't find no activity during these period of times. No credit card activity, no financial transaction whatsoever, no sign of passage at the borders, nothing…" When he was done scribbling the dates of these mysterious 'disappearances', Rossi turned to face the team, who had all stood up from their chairs by now, except for Agent Boyd._

"_So you think they went undercover under a false identity during all these periods of time?" Hotch asked, his dark look already telling that he was considering the theory reasonable._

"_That would be the only explanation." Derek intervened, observing his unit chief's every move to try and read his mind._

"_But…" Emily interrupted, her eyes hesitating between Hotch and Rossi. "We just spent the whole day going through all the cases of these three agents, and nothing alike is mentioned."_

"_But I bet you didn't find either any case running over these dates." Rossi announced, pointing back to his unreadable scribbling on the board. Emily frowned at the answer._

"_I would have to check that, Dave." She said, dead-serious, only relaxing when the elderly agent shot her a smile._

"_Rhetorical question."_

_Hotch cleared his throat, silently begging his team to focus on the case. The last phone call and Erin Strauss' continuous presence in his back had worn his patience out._

"_Emily is right, Dave. The Bureau is pressing for answers, why would they purposely retrieve information from us?"_

"_Don't tell me you think they would put three deaths over matters of national security?" He said with an apologetic look. "And I'm not saying that I agree in any way."_

_Hotch paused for a moment. He knew that this was a possibility – though what he didn't understand was that Penelope Garcia had not managed to get through the walls of bureaucracy and confidentiality._

"_Okay." He finally said, almost hearing his coworkers breath in relief at his reaction. "I need a bulletproof file on that, if I am to argue with the big names."_

_The two new agents looked a little scared to the round. They had picked up the tension in the air as something threatening, unaware that it was the normal functioning of this little group. Confrontation, competition and disagreement were as much a part of the team's work as were understanding, tolerance and empathy._

"_If we suppose that this is our key for victimology…" Emily began, carefully choosing each word. "Where would be our unsub?"_

_Reid, who had been very silent until then, stood up from his corner and approached the table, his hands dug deep into his trouser pockets. Everyone could tell by his face that he was already thinking a hundred miles an hour._

"_I think in our case, the _why _is as important as the _how_…" Seeing the incredulous look on his coworkers' faces, Reid quickly went on: "If these undercover operations really are our key to link the three victims, we have to understand _how_ he knows that they are FBI agents, _how_ he manages to trace the victims back to their normal life… And what would be the motive?"_

"_Maybe he was one of the suspects in their undercover operations? Their work then might have put his life in danger or put him behind bars?" Derek offered, not really convinced._

"_But you are supposing that all of the victims came across the same suspect in their missions…" Emily added._

"_True. We won't know that for sure until we put our hand on the case files…" As Derek answered, his eyes trailed over to the dark-haired agent. He was the only one who could get this information. As Hotch picked up the silence that had fallen onto the group, he set into action:_

"_Right, I'll try it the official way, and we'll have Garcia to dig on her own side, if my method doesn't work… Rossi and Morgan, go back and bring me all the evidence you can get to prove your theory. I will need it if I have to make this phone call. And," He turned to Agent Boyd and Wright, who had not said anything but were watching the exchange with much interest. "This stays between us, understood?"_


	6. Chapter 6

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories!**

**Chapter 6: Unbearable waiting**

Rossi tried his best not to run to the security check-point. Although the matter seemed urgent, to say the least, he didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to what was going on on the fourth floor. His relief was great when he noticed that the four agents guarding the entrance building had already set into action. One was talking over the radio to what he guessed was the security personnel on the incriminated floor, while the others were already holstering their guns and putting on their bulletproof vests to be used as back-up. The agent approached the little group, who had retreated in the corner with the security cameras. He didn't to flash his badge – his latest book had attracted quite a bit of attention in the Bureau and Dave distinctly remembered giving an autograph to one of the security agents. They would recognize him instantly.

"Agents, I was just informed about what was going on in the BAU's premises. Have you seen anything on the security cameras?"

One of the agents – Rossi's large memory registered the man as Danny – turned to him, a little helpless. Rossi followed his gaze to one of the screens, which had all the attention of the other three security guards. It took the man a whole minute to take in every detail, from the unsub clutching Reid to his chest to the unrecognizable agents lying on the floor of the bullpen. This day had turned out just great. His first thought was to search for his team members. He knew for a fact that JJ and Penelope were out of danger, but that left him with four agents unaccounted for. Having already located Spencer Reid, Rossi's mind went to scan the different agents lying all over the floor, trying to make out Derek's broad shoulders or Emily's brown hair. But neither of them could be found.

"Do you have footages showing the rest of the floor?" Although the question was general, Rossi's mind was now focused on Aaron Hotchner. He needed to check if his friend was okay, and whether he was able to make a move or get an outside contact. Rossi's attention shifted when he heard his blonde colleague's high heels echoed through the gigantic entrance hall. Jennifer Jareau was wearing a heavy face, and the rate of her walking showed just how nervous she was. She had had a hard time leaving Penelope on her own in front of the horrendous images displaying all over her screens. After five minutes of harsh negociations, JJ had finally convinced her friend that she would be much more useful joining the field team than sitting around the bunker. The blond liaison agent came to stand next to her coworker, not saying a word.

"How in the hell did this prick get past us?" Danny Matthews asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"He didn't." JJ answered with a dark voice. She had spent enough time studying the footages with a crying Penelope to know exactly what she was saying.

"Oh crap!" An angered voice called out, causing the two profilers to jump in surprise. "He just opened fire on the security intervention team!" Indeed, the bullpen which had been quite peaceful was now a wreck.

"Danny, call SWAT, just in case. We'll need a negotiator as well. Agent," The security agent turned to JJ with a stern look, "You seem to know what is happening up there. Care to fill us in?"

Xxx

"_The lab just called." David Rossi waltzed into the conference room, where everyone was gathered. "They confirm that the bullet that killed Patricia Donovan was shot with her service gun."_

"_The one we didn't find on the scene?" Emily responded, simultaneously stifling a yawn. She didn't need to check her wristwatch to know that it was past eleven already. The big black clock hanging just above the door was in everybody's mind, ticking like a countdown until the next murder._

"_That one." Rossi answered with a smirk._

"_He takes them as trophy." Reid said to the round, sipping his coffee while his mind seemed miles away._

"_Is that significant?" Reid resisted doing big eyes at the question. But Agent Boyd was such a nice-looking young agent that he repressed the gesture._

"_Very much so." He answered dead-serious, his eyes set on the brown-haired agent. "First, it means that these murders have a personal meaning for him. He doesn't choose the victims randomly."_

"_Secondly," Morgan intervened, taking a seat next to his younger colleague, "it confirms our theory that he knew the victims personally."_

"_How can you say that for sure?" Agent Wright asked, a little defensively. Aaron Hotchner eyed him curiously. It didn't take a profiler to guess that this agent wasn't a member of the BAU, given the skepticism he was showing._

"_First, he knew that they were armed. And he reached for the weapon without the victim fighting back really. We already established that each of them had a pretty high alcohol level, but that doesn't beat a trained FBI agent's survival instincts. So it's very likely they trusted the unsub enough to let their guard down." Derek's explanation seemed to convince the new agent, who nodded and shifted his attention back to the files in front of him._

_The group fell silent for a moment, the silence only disturbed by the occasional sound of a mug colliding with the table and the rustling of paper._

"_Okay, it's now almost midnight." Hotch said, already standing up from his spot. "I suggest that everyone goes home and gets some rest. We'll meet tomorrow at 6 to get things started as quickly as possible."_

_His suggestion was welcomed by several sighs of relief and the sound of files being closed a little hastily. They had been on the job since the early morning and had barely taken any break. If the next day was as nerve-wracking as the previous had been, they could all use a few hours of sleep._

_JJ came into the room and walked straight to Hotch, to make her report before calling it a day._

"_I issued an internal memo giving the first elements of the profile and asking all female agents to stay on their guards. I put extra weight on the randomness of victims."_

"_Thank you, JJ." Hotch said absently._

"_Did you reach anything with the confidential files?" The question attracted the other agents' attention. They had not had the opportunity to ask their unit chief about it before. He had looked so worn out when he had joined them after the dreaded phone call that they had preferred staying silent._

"_I'll have the files on my desk tomorrow at first light. It's unnecessary to say that we'll all be in trouble if we mess this up or leak any information outside this unit…" Hotch's eyes shifted to his other agents, so that they would get the full meaning of this threat._

_After a short pause, they all began standing up and gathering the files to clean the mess they had left on the table. Hotch though had not moved from his spot, and was looking uneasily around._

"_Is something bothering you, Aaron?" Dave asked, taking a step closer._

"_No. I just would like us to take up ourselves the advice we gave the other agents." He looked more particularly at Emily and JJ. "Agent Wright, can you drive Agent Boyd home?" The man nodded, and Hotch turned to JJ, who didn't let him say a word._

"_Will is picking me up, actually."_

"_Good. Emily?"_

_The brunette frowned. She didn't like being treated like a vulnerable woman. She was well ready to defend herself._

"_I've got my car in the parking lot…" Hotch felt that she was about to protest, and shot her a dead-serious glance._

"_Prentiss…"_

"_Alright." She raised both her hands in defeat. "Would you feel better driving me home, sir?" She put extra weight on the last word to make fun of Hotch, and was a little taken aback when he nodded, picking up on her offer._

_Great, she thought to herself, I just forced my boss to be my taxi driver._

_Xxx_

"_Don't get me wrong, but I'm quite surprised that you go home already!" Emily said as she stepped in the big dark SUV._

_Hotch glared sideways while buckling his seatbelt._

"_I thought you'd be the first one to congratulate me, or did I mistake your – and Penelope's, for that matter – repeated attempts to chase me out of my office after eight?" The grin on his face immediately reassured Emily, but she did not answer. She had always felt that she had gone too far with her quasi-harassment over Aaron Hotchner's unreasonable work hours. But from the light tone in his voice, she suddenly realized that he was thankful for her attention – and the other women's on the team._

"_I think politics wore me out much more than chasing unsubs around…" He continued when it was evident that Emily would not answer._

"_Oh, how I agree with you…" She sighed deeply, her mind drifting to all the family reunions and ambassador's balls, full of forced smiles and handshakes._

_The couple fell silent for a moment._

"_What do you think of our newbies?" Emily asked with a light tone. She had spent the whole day with the two young agents, and yet they hadn't exchanged more than a few words. The files had been too numerous and the pressure too important for them to socialize._

"_Um… They lack a bit of empathy. I felt like the case is… just a case to them." Hotch paused, not quite sure how to phrase it. "Anyway, can we not talk about work at this late hour?"_

_Emily grinned although this request made her a little uneasy. As well as she felt in Hotch's presence, he wasn't particularly known for his conversation. With everything they had gone through in the last months, Emily had had a glimpse into the soul of the man. Yet she had no idea what were his tastes in books, movies or his hobbies – if he had any._

"_Yeah, I guess eighteen hours straight on the job is enough for one day... How is Jack?"_

_At the mention of his son, Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner immediately switched to the sweet dad, and he smiled to himself._

"_He is… tiring, to be honest. But I'm glad that he is back to being a six-year-old full of energy."_

"_At least it means that he is coping well…"_

"_He is." Hotch cleared his throat, his mind suddenly drifting back to unhappy memories._

"_Do you manage to spend enough time with him?" Emily asked all of a sudden._

"_Well, I am not sure on the definition of _enough_, but I guess I make more efforts than when Haley was there…" The dark look on Hotch's face convinced Emily to drop the subject. So much for private conversations._

"_We definitely need a team's night when this is all over…" She muttered to herself, feeling the tension tighten in her shoulders and neck. At the comment, Hotch eyed her curiously, trying to keep the road in his field of view._

"_Where did _that _come from?"_

_Emily leaned back in the seat, pursing her lips._

"_I am just in great need of some social interaction and fun…" She relaxed when she saw Hotch grin in the corner of her eye. The workaholic he was probably understood very well the feeling. At least he had a son exhausting him in the evening and week-ends._

"_You are probably the only persons with whom I can talk about murders, dump sites and cause of death… and then chill out over a couple of beers."_

"_What, your other friends are not interested in getting to know the minds of psychopaths?" The serious tone of his voice contrasted with the smirk on his face. Emily turned to the window, noticing that they had arrived in her street._

"_Generally, the fun ends with them asking 'How is work these days?'." Emily's voice trailed off. As Hotch pulled the car in front of her apartment building, the brunette grabbed her handbag and opened the door._

"_You are not walking me up." She threatened when she noticed Hotch unbuckling his seatbelt. They glared at each other for a few unbearable seconds, before he nodded in agreement._

"_Sleep well." Hotch's eyes lingered on the brunette's silhouette as she jogged up the flight of stairs and disappeared into the apartment building._


	7. Chapter 7

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories! Thanks for your reviews, they get me going...**

**Chapter 7: Negotiations**

The ringtone was echoing in his head over and over, making his frustration grow quickly. He had crouched behind the desk and made sure that he could keep an eye on the open blinds, in case the unsub chose to have a look around the premises. From this corner, all sounds coming from the bullpen were muffled, but he could still make out angry orders and whimpers coming from fearful hostages. As another ring resounded, Hotch's mind drifted to Emily, whom he did no more hear. Panic overwhelmed him and he felt an irresistible urge to run back to check on her, but his reason kept him from moving, until David Rossi finally picked up his phone. The only thing he could do for the moment was get some help from the outside. Suddenly, the noises in the inferior level became louder, and Hotch almost let the desk phone fall in surprise. He absently went for his gun when a shot echoed downstairs, immediately followed by angry voices shouting. Hotch only recognized the voice of the unsub among the argument. He peered through the windows of his office but could only make out the silhouette of the hostage taker and his prey, Spencer Reid. The man was aiming his gun somewhere behind him, and it was not difficult to guess that they had had an unexpected visitor.

Hotch crouched down and went to the door, locking with Emily's gaze. She had not moved an inch from her previous position, and her state looked unchanged. She was still as pale as earlier and tears of pain were running down her cheeks, but she didn't have this look of fear she had worn the few moments after the shot. Hotch didn't know whether to be relieved by her apparent calm, or be worried that she might already have given up. His eyes went down to the blood-stained jacket and he noticed for the first time that the red liquid had formed a pool under the brunette. His attention was caught by Derek Morgan's angry voice.

"Don't do that! They'll come in and shoot randomly, is that what you want?"

His view over the scene was much clearer from this location, and he finally understood what had caused this outburst. An agent with the word 'security' displayed in big yellow letters over his vest was lying in the entrance of the bull pen, clutching his throat. Even from the distance, Hotch could see the blood pouring profusely in-between the poor man's fingers. This wasn't good, Hotch thought sadly, watching as the man got weaker and weaker. He stayed several moments without moving or even breathing, watching as Reid struggled against the man's grasp and Derek was fighting the urge to go and kill the unsub with his bare hands. His reason, of course, told him that he would be dead within five seconds if he moved from behind the desk. It was now or never, Hotch thought, his eyes shifting back to Emily. He had to take advantage of the temporary mess. In one swift movement, Hotch had made his way from the office to the photocopier, without drawing anyone's attention – other than Agent Marybeth Gillingham, who had raised her head just at this moment. Hotch held his breath as he met Emily's eyes. Silently, he sat down next to her, pulling her almost limp body against him so that he could put more pressure on the wound. The energy had slowly left her arms so that she wasn't really stopping the blood flow anymore.

"Hold on, Emily, we're going to get you out of here…" Hotch breathed against her hair as he pressed on the wound and heard her groan in pain.

"They'll have to send a negotiator now…" Emily whispered in return, her voice raw from the long silence. "These idiots ran in all guns out, without even warning."

"Ssshh, keep your strength…"

"Is anyone hurt? Reid?" She continued, ignoring his attempt at shutting her down.

"No, Reid's alright. The others too, as far as I could see." Hotch answered in a whisper, changing the hand that was pushing on the jacket. He didn't mention the dying security agent. Emily Prentiss had other things to think about.

Xxx

_When Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss walked into the bullpen after having met in their usual coffee shop, a light was already shining in Aaron Hotchner's office. It was so early in the morning that the sunlight didn't reach the depths of the bullpen. Emily walked to her desk, turned on the lamp and almost threw her purse on the seat, ignoring the surprised look of Spencer Reid. She hadn't slept well and the first one to make a comment would be the victim of her bad humor all day long, she had decided._

"_I've been thinking…" Reid's voice came from behind Emily's back and she couldn't help smirking at the sentence._

"_When are you not?"_

"… _and I'm beginning to think the unsub is not on the 'bad' side, so to say." When he was finished, Reid began reflecting silently and sipping at his giant coffee. Emily just glared, not quite sure yet what Reid meant by this mysterious statement. But she knew it would be interesting, because Spencer Reid never opened his mouth to say something insignificant._

"_What are you driving at?"_

"_I don't think our guy was being _watched_ by the undercover agents. I would rather say… he knew their mission from the inside."_

_Emily almost spilt her cup of coffee and took a moment to consider his theory. Unconsciously, her eyes drifted upstairs to Hotch's office, as though she needed his advice on the matter._

"_Are you saying the unsub works for the Bureau?"_

_As only answer, Reid raised an eyebrow. He didn't really know what would be Emily's reaction before he actually said the words, and needed to have her point of view before digging any further into that theory._

"_It makes sense." He simply said, taking another sip at his coffee._

"_Let's go see Hotch. I bet he's already through the top-secret files," Emily sighed, already making her way upstairs without waiting for her younger colleague, "He'll have a better insight on your theory."_

_Emily knocked softly on the door and was greeted by a cold 'Enter'. For a brief moment, meeting Aaron Hotchner's tired eyes and dark expression, the brunette wondered whether the man had slept at all last night. He looked like he had spent the whole night in his office, although she couldn't imagine him dropping her off at her apartment and driving all the way back to Quantico._

"_Morning, Hotch. Do you have a minute?" She said, penetrating into the dim light of the office with Reid on her heels._

"_Sure, come in. You're pretty early…" He said, noting that it was merely 5.30 in the morning._

"_It's difficult to really get any rest when there's a cop killer on the loose..." She answered, putting extra weight on the last part. "Are these the files?"_

"_They are." Hotch said, nodding to the open case file under his nose. Emily took a seat across from him, leaning forward to grab one of the files that her unit chief had obviously already read. With any other agent, Hotch would probably have commented on the familiarity of her gesture, but Emily Prentiss didn't do this as a mark of defiance. She desperately wanted to get forward on the case and knew that she had all the trust of her unit chief, on_ and _off the job._

"_Reid's got an interesting theory." She muttered while flipping open the first case, which was as thick and heavy as a phone book._

"_Yeah?" Hotch raised his eyes to the younger agent, who had stayed behind and was looking absently at the file over Emily's shoulder. When he felt his superior's eyes on him, Reid snapped back to reality._

"_Statistically, given the different departments the victims were working in, it is highly unlikely that the same suspect would cross their path in an undercover operation. Unless it was some sort of common secret mission to Narcotics and Counterterrorism…" His voice trailed off, as Reid obviously waited for an answer._

"_I didn't see anything like that, but I haven't been through all the reports yet."_

"_Anyway, I was beginning to think that the unsub was on the other side of the mirror… Meaning: who would know about all these missions? Someone who helped set it up, maybe?"_

"_A fellow agent?" Hotch raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected this theory, and wasn't quite ready to accept it. Of course, Spencer Reid was fore and foremost a brilliant professor, and had joined the FBI lately. He didn't have the same loyalty to the institution as Derek, Emily or Hotch himself._

"_Why not?" Reid said innocently, meeting the cold gaze of his superior._

"_Reid, I understand your point and it may be valid. Though, before beginning to throw accusations around, we need to have some evidence." He said in the most pedagogical tone he could take. "What would be the motive?"_

_Emily was watching the exchange with curiosity. She had been asking herself the same questions as Hotch, though the more she turned Reid's theory in her head, the more reasonable it sounded._

"_I have not gone there yet." Reid stuttered, suddenly aware that he had accused his own institution without any proof other than a vague intuition._

"_That would be the first step then. If your points seem reasonable, we'll consider it." Hotch said seriously, keeping his eyes on the doctor's face to assess his reaction._

"_Maybe we should have a look at the files?" Emily offered, pointing to the stack of paper._

"_We have absolute interdiction to make any copy or hand these files to anyone outside the team. I'll meet you in the conference room in ten and we'll split them between us." He said, gathering the different reports. "The others shouldn't be long now, we will need the help."_

_As Emily and Reid began making their way towards the door, the brunette couldn't help turning around to give her point of view._

"_He has a point though, Hotch. A fellow agent with sufficient accreditation would know about the undercover operations. Plus, we already suggested that the unsub probably knew his victims…"_

_Hotch nodded, silently registering Emily's argument, and watched the two agents leave the room without one more word._

_Xxx_

"_Where are our little newbies today?" Derek Morgan asked when Hotch entered the conference room and closed the door behind him to avoid any inconvenient eavesdropping. He had been made very clear by the agent who had come by with the files that they would be held responsible if any information leaked out to the press or random agents._

"_Given the extreme confidentiality of these details, I thought better to reassign Agents Boyd and Wright. I sent them to the lab to review all the evidence. Maybe we missed something there…" Hotch answered, taking his usual position at the end of the table. He let his eyes linger on his colleagues before continuing to speak. Emily was stirring her mug of coffee – Hotch had always been astonished at the rate of her caffeine consumption. Emily had walked in with a paper cup, which must have been already almost emptied, because she had traded it for a regular mug of poor-taste coffee from the conference room pot. Derek had arrived just when Hotch had left his office – contrarily to his coworkers, he looked very ready to get down to work. And Reid was already lost in his notepad, probably scribbling down all the arguments which could validate his theory._

"_And we are authorized to have a look? What an honor." Derek said sarcastically._

_Hotch didn't pick up on the comment, and began spreading the files across the table. There were too many to be counted._

"_We have thirteen operations involving our latest victim, Agent Donovan."_

"_Thirteen?" Emily almost choked her coffee._

"_Running from three weeks to five months infiltration. She made it a specialty to infiltrate narcotic traffic groups from all over the country." Hotch paused, putting all the relevant reports on one side. "Lindsay Christensen's professional record is much lighter. We have… three operations going back to a couple of years, before Agent Christensen took her desk job."_

_Emily raised her eyes as she saw David Rossi come in and greet the round with a nod. He didn't want to interrupt, so he stayed by the door until Hotch was finished with his instructions._

"_Finally, we have nine cases involving Agent Donovan. These case files are particularly confidential, I don't have to tell you why…" Hotch's eyes lingered on his coworkers. When it came to threats to national security, everyone in the federal agency became very uneasy and almost paranoid._

"_Before we split the cases and go through them, Reid has a theory he would like to share with the rest of us." The unit chief nodded to Reid, who began fidgeting at once, embarrassed by the sudden attention he was getting._

"_Um… It's just a theory, we would have to validate that with Garcia's help."_

"_Go on, kid." Derek muttered, leaning his back against the glass wall of the conference room._

"_I think that it is weird and statistically unlikely that our three victims – all working for a different department – would meet the same suspect during their infiltration operations."_

"_Are we even sure that the undercover operations are the clue?" Emily interrupted. She didn't like when the team went head first into an angle of the victimology – they risked losing the overview and miss the crucial points._

"_It's the only thing that connects all their careers." Reid answered absently before turning back to the men. "Then there's this remorse shown by the ritual around the dead bodies. Rearranging their hair and body position, for instance…"_

_Feeling that the young doctor was rapidly getting lost in the details running through his mind, Hotch raised his hand to stop him. _

"_Get to the point, Reid."_

"_Alright." The younger agent cleared his throat. "What if the unsub is actually a colleague of our victims? A fellow FBI agent? He would know about the operations, maybe even know the victims themselves. So he picks his victims, lures them into a dark corner. They trust him because they know he is FBI. He gets them to drink, to lower their guard, and reaches for their gun to kill them because he can't use his own…"_

"_Because it's registered." Derek finished the thought, falling into a long silence._

_No one had said anything during Reid's speech. They all felt they had to take a step back._

"_We would have the opportunity, the method, and it would fit the profile. The unsub shows signs of remorse because he identifies with his victims." Emily noted, her eyes set on Hotch because he hadn't said anything in over two minutes._

"_And what about the motive?" Rossi asked, breaking the silence._

"_That's where we're stuck." Reid acknowledged. He was eyeing the files on the other side of the table, silently praying that his unit chief would get the ball rolling and let them have an insight in the infiltration missions._


	8. Chapter 8

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories!**

**Chapter 8: Lost temper**

David Rossi had not moved in over ten minutes. His hands placed on his hips, the microphone strapped around his ear and along his jaw to keep contact with his fellow agents at all times. His eyes were set on some spot on the tile floor, but his senses registered every detail going on around him. The SWAT unit moving around the entrance hall, heavily armed and strapped in tight bulletproof vests. The security agents talking over the walkie talkie with their units stationed at the third and fifth floor. Jennifer Jareau nervously tapping her left foot against the floor, in expectation. They were only waiting for the green light. Dave felt his blonde colleague tap his arm to get his attention, and he automatically raised his eyes to meet the angry gaze of Erin Strauss.

"What do we have?" She asked without even greeting the two agents. Her eyes had already shifted to the multiple security cameras in the back of David Rossi.

"He is holding approximately twenty hostages, including Aaron Hotchner and the rest of our team. The security footage is bad and it is difficult to see whether there are any injured or killed."

"Why is that?"

Dave sighed deeply. "He has made all the hostages lie down so it's difficult to guess whether they are all still fine. Plus, we don't have images of all the corners of the fourth floor."

"Did you already make contact with him?" Section Chief Strauss had taken a step forward to take a look at the screens herself. She slowly registered all the details of the black-and-white screens, simultaneously listening to Agent Rossi's explanation.

"Not exactly. One of the security teams stormed in to take the hostage taker down and he fired in return. One of the agents has been killed on site and another seriously wounded. He's been taken care of by the EMT's outside."

JJ was watching the Section Chief with all her attention. It was up to Erin Strauss to decide the next move. She had many of her best friends in that bullpen, and didn't even know for sure whether they all were fine. If Strauss made the wrong decision, JJ would probably have to kill her herself in revenge.

"Do you have any idea why he did that?" She continued, her eyes still trained on the tiny silhouette of the crazy man, who was holding Spencer Reid with all his strength.

Rossi cleared his throat, taking a moment to think before answering. He could pretty much guess the reason for this outbreak, although he had not witnessed it first-hand.

"We believe he killed the three agents of our case. He must have felt cornered when we narrowed down the profile."

Erin Strauss turned a shocked face in her agent's direction. She could not believe she had let that slip through her fingers. If he was to harm any other agent of the department, she would have to step down, she thought as panic overwhelmed her. This probably was the biggest mistake of her career.

"Agent Rossi, since you know the ins and outs of the case, I am making you the lead negotiator."

"Given he wants to talk to us…" Rossi's mind was already a hundred miles ahead. If the man was having a psychotic break, it was already too late to bring him back to reason. He would go rather than surrender. The question was, whether he would go alone or not.

Xxx

_The only sounds coming from the conference room now was the rustling of paper and occasional sighs of defeat. Emily and Hotch had begun to tackle the thirteen cases of Agent Donovan, their latest victim. Morgan and Rossi had divided between themselves the operation of the Counterterrorist department and Reid had taken up the files involving Agent Lindsay Christensen. So far, they had not been able to link anything between the three agents – once again. But three and a half minutes ago, Spencer Reid had stood up from his seat, having already scanned three times the few files he had, and noted down everything he needed to share with his colleagues. He was now standing in front of the board and looking intently at the crime scene pictures._

_Derek Morgan closed the sixth his file after reading the same report over and over without finding any interesting clue._

"_Reid, talk to me." He called out as he came to stand behind the doctor, whose concentration was so intense that he barely heard his colleague. After a few stunned moments, Spencer turned and met Derek's questioning gaze._

"_I can tell when you got something on your mind, remember?" Derek continued when Reid opened his mouth without saying a word. _

"_I was just looking at the crime scenes… The more I look at the position of the victims, the more I think of some sort of execution."_

"_Is that significant?" Derek asked absently, following Reid's gaze to the picture of the first victim's dead body._

"_Could be. I mean, all three victims have been killed with the exact same MO. No hesitation, no escalation…" Spencer's voice trailed off, as he thought about how to phrase his exact and complicated thoughts. "The unsub is not a psycho. He is rational, calm, he isn't following any pulsion…"_

"_Meaning what?" Hotch called out from behind the table. His attention had been caught as soon as Derek had come to stand behind Reid. The latter turned around at the intervention and joined his hands, a gesture he always did when he was delivering a theory._

"_He is accomplishing a sort of mission."_

_The young agent had now everybody's attention._

"_Like in 'divine mission'?" Emily asked, simultaneously standing up and grabbing her mug and Hotch's, which was just next to hers, to refill it. She didn't wait for her boss' approval. Emily knew Hotch enough to feel when he was in need for his shot. The man had obviously slept as well as herself the previous night, considering the blue bags under his eyes and the slight shaking of exhaustion in his hands as he flipped through the case files…_

"_There's definitely a moral connotation to it." Reid answered, looking at the brunette. "But I wouldn't necessarily go for the religious explanation."_

"_I hate to say it, but this only confirms Reid's theory about the unsub being an FBI agent." Emily said pensively while filling Hotch's mug. "It's not the usual pulsion-remorse scenario. Everything this unsub does is reflected, the killings as well as the ritual."_

"_He believes it's part of his job to kill these women…" Morgan concluded. He hated that he was beginning to get convinced by Reid's crazy theory._

"_Alright." Hotch's dark voice resounded. "This does not leave the six of us. If the rumor spreads that someone in the agency is a psychopath on the loose, it will soon become a witch-hunt."_

_The profilers exchanged a sad look. This case was just about to become even more difficult and nerve-wracking._

"_And we need something more specific. There are over 30 000 federal agents in our country, we can't just start digging out all personnel files to match them with our profile." The unit chief continued, thinking aloud._

"_There's one huge piece still missing that could help us…" Rossi noted pensively, trying to find in Reid's eyes the beginning of an answer. "Why is he targeting these women and why the interest in undercover operations?"_

"_If we understand the reasoning behind the unsub's actions, we will soon identify him." Emily added to confirm Rossi's point. The puzzle was extremely complex and one single piece could change the team's insight of the case._

"_Okay, what did we learn in these files that could help the profile?" Hotch picked up where Emily had left. She walked back to her files, handing Hotch his mug of coffee._

"_I think I found something interesting…" She said, searching for the right file and her notepad. "Patricia Donovan went undercover three years ago to help arrest a big drug trafficker, smuggling drugs through Southeast Asia. She infiltrated the group during two months, to gather enough evidence."_

"_Did they arrest the traffickers?" Derek interrupted._

"_Yes, but it wasn't a clean arrest. To be honest, they described it as a bloodshed. Eight deaths including a cop. The interesting thing is that Agent Donovan was the subject of an internal investigation."_

_When she was finished, Emily's eyes lingered on the file for a few seconds before she turned to her coworkers. A big part of her hoped that they would have a similar story to tell. She sighed in relief when a look of recognition etched on Rossi's face._

"_I must say I found something weird in my files too…" The elderly agent raised a finger to dissuade his coworkers from interrupting, as he searched through the relevant case files. "Maria Lopez seemed to be a _very_ efficient field agent… And when I say _very_ efficient, I mean exceptionally persuasive with suspects…"_

"_Abuse of power?" Emily offered, looking back and forth between Rossi and Hotch._

"_Maybe. No official investigation was ever launched though."_

_Everyone fell silent for a moment, the calm only disrupted by Reid flipping through his own files. Not that he didn't know them by heart already. But he was looking for a precise fact in one of the reports he had read._

"_What if Agent Christensen quit her field job _because _of that?" He asked to the round. "We presumed that it was because she wanted to start a family, but maybe there was a professional reason?"_

"_Be more specific, Reid." Hotch brought him back to reality. After three whole days of pointless investigation, they needed to start gathering evidence rather than throwing theories around._

"_The third and last infiltration of Agent Christensen ended merely three months before she put in a transfer." He recited, running the different dates through his head as fast as he was speaking. "It was a nasty case involving child trafficking. Oh…"_

_Hotch frowned as Reid's sentence ended abruptly, before he had time to deliver any real information._

"_Reid!" He called out a little too harshly. His patience had been running short, especially since he had not gotten any sleep the previous night. His mind had been too focused on the victims, the numerous uncertainties of the case and the tension among the highest ranks of the federal agency. And he kept thinking back to Emily. He had liked the drive to her apartment, because he could see a completely different angle of the brunette when she was off duty. Hotch couldn't help feeling astonished over and over at the honesty of her words and the easiness with which she opened up to him, even though she was a very private person. Reid's stutters brought the dark-haired agent back to reality, and he tried to focus entirely on what the younger profiler had to say. _

"_Sorry. Apparently the main actor of this traffic died in dubious circumstances. He was found lifeless by the back-up teams when they stormed in. Lindsay Christensen claimed self-defense, and it wasn't investigated further, but in the light of our other elements…"_

_Again, the team fell silent as the pieces of the puzzle were getting together._

"_So, we have an unsub working for the FBI, trained with a gun and with knowledge of the most secret cases of the Bureau, who has a grudge against dirty cops?" Rossi said, ignoring the disapproving glance he received from Aaron. It was always dangerous to talk of corruption or crimes committed by fellow federal agents._

"_Okay, we will have to confirm that theory first. As far as we know, only one of the three victims has been subject of internal investigation… Reid and Morgan, take the list of the other agents involved in this case of child trafficking, and go to interview them, one by one. Get them to talk. If it can help, disclose any information of the case that could convince them to open up."_

_Without waiting further instructions, Spencer grabbed the relevant file and walked to the door with Morgan on his heels, trying to simultaneously walk between the desks and find the list of agents involved._

"_Rossi, take Prentiss and do the same with Maria Lopez. I'll call my friend in Counterterrorism and let him know you are coming. Try to find whether Agent Lopez ever was suspected of using borderline methods."_

_Emily downed her cup of coffee a little too hastily and cursed when she spilt some on her white shirt. She gave Hotch a look when she noticed the grin on his face._

"_I doubt this day can go worse…" She muttered to herself, wiping the extra hot liquid from her wrist and looking at the stain on her newest shirt. She couldn't count how many times she had done this in the past two years. The clumsy side of her came out all too often for her likings._

"_What will you do, Aaron?" Rossi asked while he was gathering all the files and putting them in his briefcase._

"_I'm going to join Garcia in her bunker for a while. What Reid said earlier about identification was interesting. I think the unsub went through a similar experience of infiltration."_

"_Do you know how many federal agents go undercover each year?" Rossi asked, exaggerating every word to show his surprise. "Needle in a haystack."_

"_We'll begin within the departments of our victims. He must have come across their way at one point or another."_

"_Good luck then." Rossi offered, leaving the room followed by Emily Prentiss, who was still concentrated on the stain on her shirt, cursing this day which seemed meant to be catastrophic._


	9. Chapter 9

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories!**

**Chapter 9: Last clue**

Penelope Garcia was getting crazy. She could count on one hand the number of times she had been this nervous and had felt so useless. Her entire team was under gunfire, and she hadn't even been able to make out if they all were alright. Her eyes were burning because she had been staring at the video cameras for long minutes. One footage was showing the bullpen, and Garcia had recognized her favorite dark-chocolate agent, hiding in one corner from the unsub, who obviously had Spencer in his grasp. The young doctor was very recognizable at his mid-long hair and skinny silhouette. As far as Garcia could see, those two were okay. And Rossi and JJ were out of the bullpen anyway, though the technical analyst had not had any contact with either of them in a whole quarter of an hour, which now seemed like a lifetime for her. That still left two agents unaccounted for.

When the phone on her desk rang, the blonde eagerly pressed the button, almost destructing the electronic piece by the strength she used.

"Tell me you've got a wonderful plan, super woman…" She said, recognizing JJ's name on the screen of the phone.

"Are you alright, Penelope?" JJ's voice was full of worry, which took Penelope aback. She was the only one of the whole team which was safe and sound, and yet Jennifer was worried about her mental state.

"I'm driving crazy down here… Where are you? What are going to do? What did Strauss say?" After the initial silence, the questions now popped out one after another.

"Garcia, calm down." JJ used the last bit of patience she had left, and breathed in deeply. "Rossi is trying to reach the bullpen. Can you check whether all the lines are still working?"

Absently, Penelope began typing frantically on the keyboard in search of the internal technical reports.

"But what is your plan? Don't you have guns, and back-up and…"

"We can't just barge in, Garcia. The man is using Reid as a shield, and he is armed. We don't want to make a bloodshed."

JJ immediately regretted the word when it escaped her mouth, as she heard the blonde analyst whimper on the other end of the line.

"The lines are all clear…" She finally said after a long pause. Horrid images of gunshots fired were now filling her mind.

"Okay, that's what I thought. He's just not ready to talk to the negotiators…" JJ's voice was sad yet not surprised. This man knew the tricks and ruses. He would not let himself be dragged into the negotiation round with Rossi. "Hold on, Garcia, okay?"

The blonde analyst nodded although JJ couldn't hear her, and turned off the phone, confronting once again the silence of her bunker.

Xxx

_Derek Morgan brushed a tired hand on his face before exiting the elevator. He could feel the tension emanating from Spencer Reid's body, who was walking just behind him. They had just finished interviewing the five agents who had been involved in the child trafficking infiltration, the five members that were still stationed in Washington DC. Three more had been transferred across the country, but after their latest interview, both men felt like it wouldn't be necessary to get in touch with them._

"_Did you reach anything?" They were greeted by the dark voice of Hotch. He had come to stand at the staircase when he had spotted his two team members arrive. Rossi and Prentiss were already in the bullpen, the brunette sitting at her desk and the elderly agent leaning against it. They both had a stern expression and were lost in their own files._

"_Actually, we did." Morgan called out, looking around to see whether any agent could overhear him. He didn't feel well talking about dirty agents like they did._

"_Agent Morgane Peters was partnered for over two years with Agent Christensen. She worked the case of this trafficker."_

"_Did she witness the close encounter between Agent Christensen and the perp?" Hotch asked, raising an eyebrow._

"_Not exactly. But she was a close friend to Lindsay… When we explained our suspicions about this infiltration mission and Lindsay's death, Agent Peters immediately talked." Reid added. He had made his way to the coffee corner and poured himself a cup. He gestured with the pot towards the others, but received no response. They had had their fair share of caffeine already._

"_Talked?" Hotch raised an eyebrow. He had come to stand behind Emily. He didn't like the nervosity displaying on his agents' faces. Emily was tapping almost hysterically her fingers on her crossed legs, while Reid played with his spoon. If the thing was to fall on the ground, Hotch would probably jump on the young doctor by simple frustration._

"_Lindsay Christensen confessed that she killed the trafficker in cold blood, although it was never investigated…" Reid said, lowering his gaze to avoid the others' surprised and sad looks. After a long silence, Hotch reached forward and grabbed the files that had been lying between Emily and Dave._

"_Prentiss and Rossi found nothing conclusive about Lopez' files and no colleague of her would talk. But I think we have enough elements now to start digging in that direction…"_

"_And no time left," added Emily, looking up at her superior. "It's already Wednesday, the unsub might strike again tomorrow, if he sticks to his time frame."_

_Hotch nodded, raising his files: "Garcia sent me all the personnel files of FBI agents in Counterterrorism, Narcotics and central services who were undercover in the last five years. We already did a background check on all the agents involved in the specific operations where our three victims took part. Almost all of them had alibis for at least one of the murders…"_

"… _Leaving us with fourteen files to look at. We can split them and get through it in less than hour." Rossi finished, taking some of the case files from his friend Aaron._

"_Have you checked internal affairs?" Reid suddenly asked, as Hotch was already walking away._

_He turned and looked pensively at the group. They had been so busy eliminating field agents that no one had thought about going back to the roots, to the center of the system. An agent working for internal affairs would know everything about official or less official investigations on undercover agents. And it fit the profile, the belief in a moral mission against dirty cops…_

"_I'll call Garcia." The dark-haired agent simply said before walking off, under the scrutiny of his team. Emily shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't help checking the time every ten minutes. It was already nine o'clock and they had spent the day running from one federal building to another without any concrete clue at the end._

_Xxx_

_The clock struck 9.21 PM and Emily was lost in her current case file. She had been rereading the same lines for the third time, wondering whether an hour of sleep would make her mind more alert. But they couldn't lose any more time than they already had. Rarely had a case been so labyrinthic to the team. Even Reid and Rossi, who usually would come up with a brilliant idea after an hour of brainstorming, seemed at a loss._

_The clock struck 9.24 PM and Reid threw the fourth report he had scanned on Emily's desk. They had been in such a hurry to get through the different profiles that neither of the men had gone back to his own desk. Instead, they were all gathered around Emily's corner, leaning on different spots of her desk._

"_Too many personal dramas in these files for me…" he announced, pursing his lips to show his frustration. "I wonder if violence and revenge brings a lot of these people through the Academy." He cleared his throat when Rossi glared at him, obviously not in the mood for non-business talking. "Nothing helpful for our case though."_

_The clock struck 9.34 PM and Rossi stretched both his arms. He needed some fresh air and a break from the long reading. He raised his eyes to witness JJ come out of her office and jog down the stairs. She was wearing a heavy face, obviously feeling as useless as her colleagues._

"_I am sick of getting phone calls by angry Section Chiefs and fearful agents demanding more information on the case…" She said, brushing a tired hand over her face. Rossi gave her an understanding look._

"_Did they decide to disclose any information to the public yet?"_

"_We haven't even been authorized to give all the details to our own troops…" The frustration and disapproval was evident in her voice. "All I could communicate on for now is the victimology. Hotch told me you're going through personnel files from the Bureau?" Saying this, the blonde looked over her shoulder to meet the perplexed gaze of another BAU agent, who apparently was not in the confidence about this detail. She ignored the man and lowered her voice._

"_Have you reached anything yet?"_

"_Hotch narrowed down the list to fourteen suspects, but it looks like we're not looking at the right departments anyway…" Emily answered tiredly, not even raising her eyes from the incident report she was currently analyzing._

"_Who's up for some coffee? I'm in great need of a change of air…" Rossi said, taking some distance from the group. A few hands were raised, all except JJ, who was already carrying her personal mug. Rossi nodded and disappeared, checking with one absent look that Aaron Hotchner was still retreated in his office._

_The clock struck 9.39 PM and Derek Morgan closed the last file he had in his possession, resisting the urge to throw it across the room in total frustration. A simple look in Reid's direction told him that the young doctor hadn't any more clue than himself about which agent could fit the profile. Two of the cases he had reviewed involved agents with previous incident reports about fraternization or disobedience to a direct order, but no violent incident that could indicate their psychic instability. Emily though seemed a little hesitant. He had noticed by the photograph attached to the file that she had been concentrated on the same man for a few minutes already._

"_Prentiss? You got something?"_

_The brunette didn't raise her head but stood up from her spot, brushing past her colleagues._

"_I need to see Hotch…" She announced, jogging up the stairs. Morgan was about to follow when all their cell phones vibrated at the same moment. They knew the drill – Penelope Garcia, the informatics genius, had sent some new information to the round._

_The clock struck 9.42 PM and another blonde woman tapped gently on JJ's shoulder, indicating that a journalist was waiting for her downstairs and demanding an explanation from the Communication officer. JJ sighed and excused herself, walking past the men to get to the elevator. Both were so concentrated on their text messages that they did not notice their colleague leaving._

"_It's a list of agents who worked for Internal affairs and previously had a field job, including undercover operations…" Reid said, his voice trailing off as he opened the message and quickly scanned through the names._

"_Reid…" Morgan was so concentrated on the tiny screen that he had become oblivious to his environment. "Does Lawrence Wright ring a bell?"_

_It was a rhetorical question. With his eidetic memory, Spencer Reid couldn't have forgotten the young agent they had met the day before._

"_Funny coincidence." Reid said, ignoring the glare of Morgan. You couldn't work for the BAU and believe in coincidences._

"_Not only that… Look at this, the man went undercover in his first year of field work for several months..." Reid had already reached the bottom of the page, making Derek skip half of the text to keep up with his incredible pace._

"_And he quit the mission two weeks before the outcome, thereby disobeying a direct order…" Morgan finished the explanation._

"_Oh, something must have happened to make him very angry... or scared." Reid put the phone back in his pocket and turned around to be faced with the barrel of a gun, trained at his head. He held his breath, catching Morgan's attention who finally looked up from his screen. His first reflex was to drop his right arm towards his belt, looking for his gun, but Lawrence Wright was quicker. In less than two seconds, he had grabbed Reid by the throat and pulled him against his chest, digging his weapon into the young doctor's neck._

"_Everyone now drop your weapons and lie on the ground!"_

_Derek looked at the hostage taker for a few moments, trying to find uncertainty or fear in his eyes. But all he could see was determination, so he took a few steps backwards, checking that no zealous agent was going for the rough method, which would put Reid's life in danger._

"_What the…" Derek didn't need to turn around to recognize Emily Prentiss' voice, coming somewhere from above. She must have done some threatening gesture, like going for her gun as a reflex, because Agent Wright aimed at her and shot once, without hesitating._

_The clock struck 9.48 PM and Hotch was dialing Garcia's well known number. The profile Emily had just shared with him could very well fit. An angry and overzealous agent, often reprimanded for his abuse of power in front of suspects, with a wide experience in undercover missions. Michael Bunting could be their unsub. He had to be, couldn't help thinking Hotch as he waited for the analyst to pick up her phone. However, before she had the chance to, Hotch's attention was caught by a terrifying sound. A shot echoed through the bullpen, followed by the recognizable noise of a body falling to the ground. A wave of adrenaline shot through the unit chief's blood as he dove through his office and reached the door. Emily Prentiss was lying on the floor. Her open eyes told Hotch that she was alive, but too stunned to breathe. He wished with all his strength that he could simply reach for his friend, but he had to keep the reason first. And the reason told him that the shooter was in the bullpen, probably ready to shoot any other person who would come in his way. With his gun drawn, the dark-haired agent peered around the corner to assess the situation and location of everyone._


	10. Chapter 10

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories! Thanks for the reviews and story alerts…**

**Chapter 10: Explanations**

Aaron Hotchner looked down at the brunette, who was slowly drifting in and out of consciousness. He gently tapped her cheek to wake her up, but she merely stirred, her eyes fluttering open as she tried to fight off the sleepiness. In the background, she could vaguely hear some talking, but the volume had considerably lowered.

"Hotch… What's happening?..." She stuttered. The pain radiating through her whole body was keeping her from moving an inch. Something was holding her shoulder to keep her from getting too agitated, and it took Emily a moment to realize that it was Hotch's hand, protectively wrapped over her shoulder while the other was pressing into her side to stop the blood flow.

"I don't know…" he whispered, raising his head slightly to get a clearer view. He could see nothing from this position, and therefore had no way to help his colleagues. But Emily was looking paler and paler, he couldn't just leave her like this. Hotch sighed and settled back behind the photocopier, softly brushing a strand of hair out of Emily's face.

"Have you contacted anyone outside?" It was getting difficult to get a simple sentence out, thought Emily before closing her eyes again. Hotch began fumbling through his pockets, digging out his cell phone. He noticed that there was a message waiting for him. With all the stress, he hadn't even heard it ring.

"Intervention team outside waiting. Can you try to disarm him? Any injured?" He read out to himself as low as he could, so as not to attract the hostage taker's attention.

"It's Dave." He said to the brunette.

"Do they know?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid they want to barge in and use the rough method…" He whispered, stretching again to assess the situation better. Reid was still used as a shield by Agent Wright. If SWAT came into the bullpen with all guns out, he would undoubtedly be injured.

"You need to talk to him… Why is he doing this anyway?" Emily's words came out more weakly than she had intended. It seemed all the energy left in her was draining away quickly. She winced again as Hotch shifted his position, pulling her with him. She hadn't really noticed how close they were before now. So that he could be free of his movements and still put pressure on the wound, Hotch had practically pulled Emily in his lap.

"I have no idea." Hotch pursed his lips, thinking about the different options available to him. He could hear Derek and Reid talking to Lawrence Wright, and guessed that they were trying to resolve the situation peacefully. This was an impossible dilemma: buy some time and get the man to surrender without hurting anyone, or go for the quick alternative and have a whole troop of SWAT agents march in, thereby risking to hurt Reid and the other BAU agents. Hotch lowered his gaze. Emily didn't have much time.

"Text Rossi." Emily said, fighting the dryness in her throat. "Reid will be in the fireline if they come in…"

"I know." Hotch grabbed his phone again and began texting back to his friend, hoping that Erin Strauss had left him in charge, or would at least listen to him if he wasn't. _Give us fifteen minutes. Call EMT. Prentiss shot._

Xxx

"We can help you, Lawrence…" Reid repeated for the third time, still not sure whether the agent had his mind clear enough to understand his discourse. The man tightened his grasp around Reid's collar as a response, and took two steps further back until he was leaning against Emily's desk. He obviously needed to have a clear sight over the elevators, fire escapes and the dozen agents lying on the ground in front of him.

"How could you help me? I know I am not going to get out of here…"

Derek shrugged and began slowly getting up from his hiding position. The fact that the hostage taker knew his poor chances made the situation all the more difficult to resolve. He needed to disarm the confrontation before back-up was sent in.

"Lawrence, listen to me." He said, raising his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender. "You are right, the other levels are probably already swarming with SWAT, field agents and so on… Your only chance is to give me your weapon."

"They won't understand…"

As Derek looked over Reid's shoulder, he met the tear-filled eyes of Lawrence Wright. Despite the fact that the man was barely a few years less than himself, the profiler couldn't help thinking how young he looked. He resembled more a terrified child than a cold-blooded killer.

"But we do." Reid's voice came out broken and scared, but the young doctor was trying to gather his emotions. "We understand your reasons for doing it…"

When the hostage taker did not respond, Reid took that as a sign to continue. His eyes were shifting between Derek Morgan and the agents lying on the ground. Some were rising fearful eyes towards Reid, but most were just lying their head down and waiting for it to finish. They could do nothing except wait. Either wait for the profilers to crack the unsub, or the SWAT to swarm the premises and take out Lawrence Wright by force. Reid's gaze settled on Agent Tamara Boyd, who was lying the closest to them. She probably had been coming in with her colleague when it all happened.

"Oh, you do?" Wright's voice brought the young profiler back to reality.

"You took out dirty cops out of the field, didn't you?" Reid tried to take the fear out of his voice. "You wanted to avenge their victims…"

Derek was looking at the man, hoping he would begin to show some signs of reason. But he only kept staring at the gun and the dozen people lying on the ground. Derek held his breath. It didn't take a profiler to see that this man was having a psychic break.

"What happened to you while you were undercover?" Ignoring the fear going through him and the pain in his neck, where the barrel of the gun was digging into, Reid tried again. To get through. To understand. To calm him down.

Xxx

"Go. You can talk to him."

"Derek and Reid are doing just fine…" Hotch whispered, though he continued to peer over and over past the photocopier. He couldn't bear to just do _nothing_ and wait.

"Do you think he will surrender?"

Emily hadn't stopped talking in the last ten minutes. It gave her a sense of normalcy and helped her concentrate on something else than the pain in her chest. As she looked down, she saw that her hands were shaking from the adrenaline slowly draining from her body. Every breath she took in was painful, every movement she would make tore her apart. She didn't want to start crying, but the pain was too much. Even the toughest FBI agent could pass out because of a gunshot.

"Are you okay?" Hotch seemed to have sensed her body tense, because he raised the hand from her shoulder to her neck, feeling how she held her breath, waiting for the pain to pass. Unable to answer, the brunette just shook her head. The tears of pain were pouring out without Emily being able to stop them.

"Just breathe, Emily… We will be out soon." At this moment, Hotch could no more think of the hostage taker, or even Reid being held at gun point. All he knew was that Emily's state was serious. They couldn't waste any more time here.

"I can't…" She stuttered, trying to take in slow breaths and whimpering at each wave of pain. Unconsciously, Hotch pulled her body closer to his, trying to make her feel his physical and moral support. His mind travelled back to the first time when he had seen Emily Prentiss cry. The walls she had needed years to build had crumbled down as soon as the name of Matthew Benton had been pronounced. A few days after this event, she had managed to get back to her usual self and lock the grief into a tiny and well-hidden box. To see her tears again today was almost unbearable for Hotch

"Sssshhh…" he soothed simultaneously looking over the corner to see whether his coworkers had reached anything. They still were in the exact same position as earlier, except Wright, who had stepped back into the corner of the bullpen. This wasn't good, thought the dark-haired agent. He knew that, if the hostage taker felt cornered, he might start shooting without a reason.

Xxx

When Lawrence didn't respond, Reid shot an understanding glance at Derek Morgan, to make it clear that they were working in the right direction. Their best chance was currently to get to Agent Wright and play the comprehensive part, until he let his guard down.

"Lawrence, we know that something happened to you…" Reid continued, trying to fight off the knot in his throat. His neck was beginning to hurt, and he must have looked exhausted because Derek kept glancing worriedly at him.

"What do you think you know exactly?" The man snorted in an angry way. "You don't know anything, because it was all kept quiet! You are trying to trick me into talking!"

He had become so agitated that he unconsciously dug the gun further into Reid's neck, causing him to wince. A couple of female agents lying on the ground let out a distinguishable whimper. For a split second, Derek thought one of them was going to stand up and run for her life, so he reached forward to motion them to stay put. They didn't need the situation to escalate because some inexperienced agent had feared for his life.

"We know that you were dedicated to this infiltration during months, and quit all of a sudden…" Derek attempted, holding Lawrence frightened gaze. "What did you see, Lawrence?"

The man flinched, his eyes boring holes into Derek's face as he was trying to determinate whether the man was playing him.

"They tortured him." He finally whispered.

Xxx

"Hotch, I don't think I am going to make it." Emily whispered more than said, being so weak by that time that she could barely keep herself awake.

"You're such a drama queen, Emily Prentiss…" The frustration and panic was evident behind the man's soft chuckle. He didn't want her to give up, but the blood now seeping through the jacket and between Hotch's fingers was very worrying. And Hotch had noticed the pale skin of Emily, as well as her half-closed eyes as she fought off the sleepiness. He had to make this light-hearted, or he would crumble altogether.

Emily barely sighed as a response. She knew what he was trying to do. Emily had been shot before, had survived a car crash, had been knocked out with a wood plank and beaten up until she could no more breathe. And yet, she had never felt so close to death. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to concentrate on what was being said in the bullpen instead of her own pain.

"Look at me, Emily." She turned slowly when Hotch's soft voice broke the silence. She could tell that he had kept his eyes on her for long minutes, assessing her state.

"I'm not giving up, Hotch." She answered, reading in his mind. "But no one knows how long we are going to stay here…"

Hotch pursed his lips, fighting off the tears threatening to rise in his eyes. He didn't want to think of this possibility. He couldn't bear to lose another agent. Hell, he couldn't bear to lose another loved one.

"Damn it you're not, Prentiss. Derek and Spencer are going to talk the man to surrender. You know how convincing they can be, right?" Again, he tried to keep the drama and worry out of his voice, and could see by the discreet smile that grazed Emily's lips that he had succeeded.

"Sure."

Before Hotch could reassure her any more, the cell phone began vibrating repeatedly, and the unit chief looked down to find another text message emanating from David Rossi. _Coming in in five. Stay out of the way._

The dark-haired agent sighed, looking protectively over the electronic machine. Reid would still be in the fireline, if they didn't manage to convince Lawrence Wright. And the SWAT would probably not hesitate to shoot. For them, losing one agent to save fifteen others was a simple equation.

"So, Prentiss, tell me about what happened with you and this Matthew Benton…" Tearing his eyes away from the scene unfolding under his eyes, Hotch tried to concentrate on the brunette and get her attention back. This was probably the worst moment to ask such a personal question, but he knew that she would react, and that was all he needed for now.

The brunette shrugged in his embrace and said nothing for a minute. It seemed so long to Hotch that the man thought for a second that she had drifted into unconsciousness. But then, her broken voice filled the silent in a whisper:

"I'm sorry not to have talked to you then."

"Why?"

Emily cleared her throat and closed her eyes. She couldn't simultaneously keep them open and talk.

"Rossi cornered me. But I couldn't help thinking afterwards that you're the one I should have come to…" Hotch could hear the tears in Emily's voice, although he couldn't decide whether they were of exhaustion or sadness. He didn't want to interrupt, so he stayed silent and waited for elaboration.

"Can we talk about it when this is over?" Hotch was instantly glad to note that Emily had not given up hope about them getting out of there alive. And, although he desperately wanted her to open up, Hotch just nodded in agreement and leaned back against the photocopier, gently soothing the brunette's hair. Suddenly, angry voices could be heard, as well as some metallic sound. Hotch held his breath, realizing that the five minutes were over.


	11. Chapter 11

**Frozen in time**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories! Thanks for the reviews and story alerts… I very much appreciate them, as well as constructive criticism. Here's the end of the story, I hope you enjoyed it like I enjoyed writing it!**

**Chapter 11: Unfolding**

"Who tortured Jennings?" Reid's mind had already registered all the details of the relevant operation. The clue to their case.

"My coworkers, these great detectives…" Lawrence spat out, shooting an angry glare at Derek and the agents on the ground. Since that night when he had witnessed his coworkers almost beat the suspect to a bloody pulp, Lawrence had never again believed in the rightness of their job. The other agents only represented the abusive system to him.

"Why didn't you report it?" Derek asked in a quiet voice. He knew he shouldn't antagonize the man, but he couldn't help himself. He had to understand why Lawrence Wright went for self-justice instead of the protocol.

"Like they would have listened…" For a split second, Lawrence let down his guard, gesturing with the gun instead of aiming it at Reid. The young doctor didn't move though. Lawrence's state was still unstable and he could shoot at any moment.

"I know you don't trust the system anymore…" Reid soothed, trying to turn around enough to lock with the agent's gaze. "But we want to help you."

"Help me?"

"They're going to be here any minute." Derek added, finally daring to take a step forward. He needed to get closer to the couple, to take his chance at dragging Spencer Reid out of the hostage taker's grasp. "And you know they will shoot."

"But we can testify, we can explain to them _why_ you did this…" Reid continued, his eyes set on his colleague. He knew exactly where they had to go, what argument they would have to pull to calm Lawrence down. Indeed, the man began to flinch, considering the profilers' argument.

"Let Agent Reid go…" continued Morgan, slowly making his way across the bullpen. "If you hurt any of us, there will be no coming back." Of course, he didn't mention Emily Prentiss, who was probably bleeding out on the upper level. This thought brought a shiver through Morgan's spine, and he unconsciously looked back to locate the brunette, in vain.

The man reacted harshly to Derek's gesture. Apparently, the latter had come too close too quickly. Feeling threatened, Lawrence stepped further back, colliding with the desk behind him. He lost his balance for a split second and lowered his weapon, at the exact same moment when the emergency exit burst open, revealing three heavily armed SWAT agents. Everything happened a less than five seconds: caught by surprise, Lawrence began raising his gun but the first SWAT agent was quicker. He aimed and shot once, with extreme precision and a strange tranquility. The first bullet hit Lawrence right in the chest, and his fingers tightened around the trigger in an involuntary reaction. With a groan, Spencer Reid hit the ground along with the unsub. It was only when silence filled the bullpen that Reid realized Lawrence had inadvertently shot him through the lower leg. Derek dove behind the desk, afraid that the so-called 'friendly fire' could continue. But as soon as the hostage taker was down, the SWAT team surrounded the bullpen with their firearms trained to the ground.

"Reid, are you okay?" The older agent crawled to his colleague, assessing the damage done to his calf.

"This is a very sick joke…" After a few shallow breaths, Reid swallowed his pain and used his elbow to get off the ground. "I just got off the crutches three months ago!"

Derek gave him an understanding look. If the young doctor was fit enough to make a joke of himself, he didn't have to worry about his state.

"Everyone alright here?" Rossi, who had appeared behind the first line of fire, strapped in his bulletproof vest, made his way among the agents who were getting up on shaky feet and stretching their aching body. He put his gun back safely into its holster and looked down at the two profilers.

"Looks like Reid will be limping once again after us…" Derek said with a half-smile, his mind already drifting to his other coworkers. The three men held their breath when Hotch's panicked voice echoed through the bullpen.

"Officer down! We need medical assistance!"

Xxx

The first thing Emily felt as she woke up was the numbness in her whole body. It was running from the tip of her fingers to her toes. But behind that, she could feel the aching in her muscles. The pain meds must be draining off, she thought, trying to open her eyes. She was greeted with a bright light which immediately awoke the sleeping headache.

"Hey…" This was unmistakably JJ's voice. Feeling that she was not alone in the room, Emily gathered her last energies to blink away tears of exhaustion, and turn her head to the origin of the talking. The blonde liaison agent was leaning over her bed, offering her softest smile. The blue bags under her eyes and the messy ponytail she had brought her hair into told Emily that her friend hadn't slept in a long time.

"You look awful…" Emily frowned, trying to straighten her sore body.

"Says the pot to the kettle…" Jennifer Jareau glared at Emily. The brunette gladly accepted the glass of water she received. Her mouth was so dry that she could barely talk. When she was finished, Emily began looking around for other signs of life in the room. In one corner, spread over a visibly uncomfortable chair was Derek Morgan. He was sleeping so still that Emily suddenly asked herself how much time had passed since the incident.

"What time is it?" She had some difficulties to bear her hoarse voice.

JJ checked the time before answering: "Almost noon. You slept through the night."

"What happened to Wright?" Her trained FBI agent's mind was immediately back to business. Emily used both her hands to sit up, immediately wincing at the pain that shot through her lower abdomen.

"He died on impact. The SWAT didn't give him a chance."

"Well, he didn't give a chance to the women he executed…" Emily muttered to herself, raising her head as she saw Morgan stir in his sleep.

The women were silent for some time.

"Are the others alright?" As far as she could recall, the brunette didn't remember seeing any of her coworkers. Except Hotch, whose face had been the last thing she saw before passing out.

"Reid was shot in the leg." JJ said, watching closely Emily's face to see her reaction.

"Again? Poor thing…" The blonde chuckled. It would probably become a recurrent joke among the team for the next three months.

"I know…" JJ said, offering her a half-smile. Emily's eyes shifted back to the sleeping silhouette of Derek Morgan.

"May I ask… Why is Morgan sleeping here in the middle of the day?"

"You gave us quite a scare. Hotch wouldn't leave your side until Derek promised he would keep an eye on you."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought back to Hotch and the support he had given her during the incident. She now missed his presence somewhat, the brunette realized.

"He's been called in with Strauss for a meeting." The blonde agent added, as though reading her friend's mind.

"Oh. I suddenly feel better being in this hospital bed." Emily smirked to show exactly how disgusted she was at the prospect of a meeting with the Section Chief.

Morgan stirred again, harder this time, and both women were practically sure that he was going to wake up. Indeed, two minutes later, his eyelids fluttered open and he tried to accustom his eyes to the sudden brightness.

"It's about time…" JJ said sarcastically, shooting a nice smile in her team mate's direction.

"Oh, you're awake!" Derek almost fell from his chair at the realization that Emily Prentiss was conscious and staring at him. He brushed the last remnants of sleep off his face and came to stand at the end of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a truck…" Emily answered, wincing at the excruciating pain in her abdomen.

"Yeah, you would know…" Derek snorted before gently tapping the blanket draped over Emily.

"I hear Hotch scared you into keeping an eye on me?" She said. The overprotective attitude of Hotch towards his coworkers had not gone unnoticed in all those years spent side by side, and yet Emily couldn't help feeling something more at the thought of his kindness and concern.

"The man needed his rest. He's been pacing around since you were admitted in surgery last night." Emily returned the compassionate smile. She couldn't quite remember being brought to the hospital, let alone go through surgery.

"And honestly, I couldn't bear staying one more minute in Reid's room. The kid is driving me crazy with his statistics on gunfire incidents…" The two women laughed – or tried to, in Emily's case – at the defeated face of Derek Morgan.

"He's in the hospital?" Emily asked, her voice still sore and weak.

"Just overnight." JJ intervened. "I'm driving him home later."

Emily leaned back into the cushions. The pain medication was getting weaker and weaker, making the soreness in her body all the more perceptible. As if sensing that she was too tired to make conversation, the blonde liaison officer turned away from Emily and said: "Derek, are you up for some coffee?"

"Definitely."

"Can I have some too?" Emily asked with a pleading voice. If the pain medication could not make her forget the gunshot wound and internal damage, then some caffeine could at least soothe her heart a little. JJ froze as she was about to walk out behind Morgan, and turned a hesitant face.

"I'm not sure your doctor would quite like that…"

The pout Emily wore did not make JJ changed her mind, and neither did the falsely angry look she shot her. As her two coworkers disappeared in the corridor, Emily settled back into her hospital bed, considering whether she should call for the nurse to give her some more medication. She didn't like them because they fogged her mind and kept her from thinking clearly. But, on the other hand, there was no one to witness her incoherence, and the throbbing in her whole body was just unbearable.

"You look like you're going to pass out. Do you want the nurse?" A familiar voice came from her side and Emily opened her eyes to discover Aaron Hotchner. The man was holding two cups of coffee, which immediately caught Emily's attention. She smiled at him with watery eyes, from the pain and the comfort to find him at her side. She hadn't seen Hotch since the incident.

"No, I'm alright."

Hotch's stern look told her that he didn't believe a word she said. But instead of pushing her, he handed her one cup of coffee and looked around to find an available chair. When his eye caught the one standing in a corner, he pulled it to the bedside and settled down calmly. His whole attitude was emotionless, but Emily knew better than to believe in these walls of stoicism. The sparkle in his eyes said everything he couldn't put into words: mostly worry, but also fear.

When she finally registered the cup of coffee she was holding, she raised it and uttered a weak smile.

"Thanks for that. You know me too good…" Hotch's eyes met hers in a silent agreement. If she ever knew all the little details Aaron Hotchner had noticed and engraved in his mind over the past years, all the off record conversations he had overheard… he knew that she was desperate for her black coffee at all times of the day and night, that her favorite author was Kurt Vonnegut and that she had a sweet tooth for chocolate and cookies. He had made a list of all the foreign languages she spoke, and knew that her favorite city to live in was Rome. He hadn't forgotten her comment about the strange boyfriends she had had in earlier years, nor the fact that she was longing to be a mother one day.

"What happened? JJ wouldn't go into details…" Emily said, sipping at the brown and hot liquid with a satisfied sigh. The pain was definitely still there, but the warmth of the cup in her hands and the presence of a dear friend made her feel better instantly.

"Lawrence Wright was our unsub. In brief, he had been traumatized by an undercover experience and went on a personal vendetta to take dirty cops out of the job."

"I heard he shot Reid…"

"Morgan said it was an accident. Wright was shot by the intervention team. It could have been much worse…" Hotch lowered his gaze so that Emily would not see him close his eyes. Pictures of Emily's blood all over the grey carpet came rushing back to his mind. He hadn't gotten rid of them since last night.

"Hotch, are you alright?" He couldn't help but smile at the question. She was the one in a hospital bed, wincing at every movement, and yet she was focused on his well-being. This was the Emily Prentiss he knew and cared for.

"Are _you _feeling alright? We almost thought we lost you last night…" He said, though his mind was screaming _I thought I lost you_. In the end, Hotch had been the one to hold her limp body in his arms, to carry her downstairs when the paramedics finally rushed through the bullpen, to ride along in the ambulance. He knew that she wasn't aware of all this and wasn't quite sure whether it wasn't for the best after all.

"Was it close?"

"You were in surgery for five hours. The doctors had a few problems finding the bullet, and you had lost a lot of blood."

"Is Strauss mad at me for ruining the carpet?" Emily said as she took another mouthful of coffee. She heard her superior chuckle at her question and raised a curious eye. God, the man must be really worn out to let out his humanity like that.

"Very mad. She will probably retain the cost on your next paycheck." He answered without losing his composure. It was Emily's time to softly laugh, although the gesture instantly made her want to pass out again. She felt like it tore her body apart. Hotch's smile faded and he looked worriedly over his friend, simultaneously reaching for the emergency button. Emily could not protest and let him take the paper cup from her gently, so that she wouldn't add a burn to her first injury.

"I think the pain medication wore off." It took Emily a moment to understand that Hotch's words were directed at the nurse. She was too tired to fight but it seemed Aaron Hotchner could truly read her mind.

"I promise I won't tell anyone any embarrassing thing you might do or say while on the drugs." The brunette opened a single eye and smiled as she saw that the man was earnestly raising his right hand in front of him, accompanying his promise with the usual gesture. His judiciary experience in court rooms was never far, it seemed.

After ten minutes, the nurse was gone again and the new IV was beginning to make its effect. With the pain becoming more bearable, Emily felt overwhelmed with a huge tiredness, which was astonishing, given that she had only awoken an hour before. Hotch had sat back into his chair and was leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I think I want to sleep a while…" Emily's half open eyes finished to convince Hotch that she was truly exhausted and ready for another nap. He didn't move from his sitting position though.

"Do you mind if I stay here?" He asked, half-expecting that she was already too sleepy to greet him with an answer. To Hotch's surprise, Emily's eyes fluttered open for a few more seconds.

"Not at all. Does your promise extend to any strange sleeping position or things I could say during my nap?"

Hotch smiled at her, pondering whether he should make fun of her a little longer. But Emily Prentiss looked too exhausted to pick up on his jokes, so he went for the short affirmative answer, and watched as she peacefully closed her eyes. He loved the sight. He needed to see her so peaceful after having carried her bloody form in his arms, after fearing that it was the last time she was closing her eyes. The man was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear JJ and Morgan coming back with their coffees. Both agents stood at the door for a moment, silently looking at each other, hesitant about what they should do. As Hotch reached out and put a gentle hand next to Emily's, on the bed, JJ tugged Derek's arm to drag him away from this private moment. Visiting a moaning Reid would be much more entertaining.

_The end_


End file.
